Yannick Agnel’s Pathway Beyond The Pool: Education & Swapping Sadness For Laughter

When Yannick Agnel, the double Olympic gold medallist of London 2012, confirmed his retirement from swimming at the age of 24 last weekend he pointed to the place of fear that so many athletes face when the time comes to move on.

It is not the what next but the who is there to guide me, to set my clock, to give me the routine that makes for track easy to follow, Agnel suggests when he states:

“It is not the void that is frightening, but when you are a high-level athlete you are always given direction. We know where we will be for four years that lead to being ready at a given hour. Then, from one day to the next, you get up and you must do everything by yourself.”

That is both “galvanising and at the same time frightening”, says Agnel. Being able to sleep in beyond 6am came as a “relief” (particularly in the case of a swimmer who ended a fine career under attack from critics who fell not far of calling him a ‘traitor’ when he opted out of the 4x200m free at the Rio Olympic Games) but Agnel will always be a swimmer.

After joking that he would not even shower any more, his rejection of water complete, Agnel noted that there was a serious side to his loss of love for the thing he had done sibce he was eight years old:

“I will always swim for fun. I’m not disgusted with swimming. On the other hand, swimming won’t be the only thing. It would be a shame to go swimming in the same way that I have done since I was eight, with all other sports forbidden to me. I have not skied for thirteen years, and I feel like it. I also want to ride a bike.”

That’s leisure sorted. What of passion directed in useful work? He looks back before forward: “I have a lot of good memories, even though I’ve endured some complicated times. That’s what makes life. Mine is rich in such moments. Every year, I have a different story to tell. I feel happy, at 24, to have gone through all of this. I’ve finished a life project and now I’m starting another one.” He adds:

“I’m starting a more normal life. The other project I would like to do is to help people who are less fortunate than me, to give myself fully to help those who, alas, laugh less. It will take the time it takes.”

Yannick Agnel by Patrick B. Kraemer

No fixed plans but a clear idea of where he would like to put Yannick Agnel to best service, for self and others. Education will be his pathway beyond a break and a time of reflection, adjustment and reaquainting himself with family and others he had “not seen in a long time”. His retirement statement noted: “I would like to set up my study project for September 2017. If I say what that will be, I’ll only put pressure on myself. I’m attracted to Science. I’l find out if it is possible to follow a normal curriculum after so many years without studies. Long before I was an Olympic champion, I got up in the morning to take American college courses online.”

As French short-course nationals concluded in Angers last Sunday, Agnel confirmed what he had indicated in Rio: the end of his racing days was nigh, the draw of another world too strong to resist.

“There were projects I wanted to do well before I became an Olympic champion. This is the opportune moment, and I found it cool [in Angers] to be able to thank all the people who followed me. I’m also able to consider my family. Since the Games, I have taken the opportunity to see people I hadn’t seen for a long time. Now I’m taking the time.”

French nationals allowed him to say farewell without regret and in a friendlier environment than his last big moment in world waters. He recalled:

“I don’t take much with me from the last four to five months. I just carry a lot of sadness about the people I’ve been around for years and treated me in a way that was not necessarily positive at the Games.”

He missed the cut for the semis of the 200m freestyle and was then accused of ‘betraying’ his teammates when he opted out of the 4x200m freestyle.”

Agnel retires with two gold andc one Olympic silver, the same count from the World long-course Championships, atop 16 golds, 4 silvers and 4 bronzes in international waters for France.

French hero of London 2012 Yannick Agnel [photo: Patrick Kraemer]

Agnel’s Podiums

Olympic Games

Gold 2012 London 200 m freestyle Gold 2012 London 4×100 m freestyle Silver 2012 London 4×200 m freestyle

World Championships (LC)

Gold 2013 Barcelona 200 m freestyle Gold 2013 Barcelona 4×100 m freestyle Silver 2011 Shanghai 4×200 m freestyle

World Championships (SC)

Gold 2010 Dubai 4×100 m freestyle Bronze 2010 Dubai 4×200 m freestyle

European Championships (LC)

Gold 2010 Budapest 400 m freestyle Silver 2010 Budapest 4×100 m freestyle Bronze 2010 Budapest 4×200 m freestyle Bronze 2014 Berlin 200 m freestyle

European Championships (SC)

Gold 2012 Chartres 200 m freestyle Gold 2012 Chartres 400 m freestyle Bronze 2012 Chartres 100 m freestyle

European Junior Championships (LC)

Gold 2009 Prague 200 m freestyle Gold 2009 Prague 400 m freestyle Gold 2009 Prague 4×200 m freestyle Gold 2010 Helsinki 100 m freestyle Gold 2010 Helsinki 200 m freestyle Gold 2010 Helsinki 400 m freestyle Gold 2010 Helsinki 4×100 m freestyle Gold 2010 Helsinki 4×200 m freestyle Silver 2010 Helsinki 4×100 m medley

Yannick Agnel by Patrick B. Kraemer

From the Archive – August 2016

In one of the last in-depth interviews of Yannick Agnel‘s career, he spoke to reporter Sabrina Knoll about a time of turbulence, why he left Nice and mentor Fabrice Pellerin and how the death of former teammate Camille Muffat blew new perspective into his life. That interview forms the basis of the following article and tribute to the swiftest 200m swimmer the world has ever known as he heads for …

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